Delta Air Lines is flying pretty high these days — a darling of Wall Street, profitable, well-respected (mostly) by its passengers, and part of a strong global network and big  transatlantic joint ventures.

But it wasn’t always so. During the early years of the current century, Delta was struggling to cope with a new wave of successful smaller but growing carriers — remember Song, Delta’s discount subsidiary that tried unsuccessfully to stave off competition from JetBlue?

All of its woes culminated in bankruptcy in 2005, an event that set the stage for Delta’s gradual renewal, helped along in large part by its merger with Northwest in 2008. The company has been on an upward track since then, and has been spreading its influence worldwide with strategic investments in foreign airlines.

All of this is the subject of a new book being published this week titled “Glory Lost and Found — How Delta Climbed from Despair to Dominance in the Post-9/11 Era.” It’s written by Seth Kaplan and Jay Shabat, executives at Airline Weekly. The authors say it’s an unauthorized biography of Delta, since it was written without input from the company.

Any of you Medallions who want to revisit Delta’s recent history will find the new volume on Amazon.

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